S. Kris Abrams | Sacred Circle Ways
Deep healing, living spirituality, & loving action, rooted in the wisdom of the natural world.
Because we shouldn’t have to choose.
There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from trying to change the world, while carrying wounds the world gave you. We show up to movements, only to find that we reproduce some of the same harms we oppose. We are told that our complexity is a weakness, our sensitivity a liability, our refusal to jump into us vs. them is cowardice. Love, acceptance and belonging are missing.
And for those of us who walk a spiritual path, we often find ourselves the lone voice advocating for justice and social change in spiritual communities. This brings another kind of exhaustion and loneliness.
And why is it that both movements to create a more sustainable and just world, and spiritual communities, are so often cut off from the greatest power source of all: the living Earth?
If you've lived that exhaustion and are looking for a new way, you’ve found the right place.
I am a licensed psychotherapist, shamanic practitioner, and teacher with 14 years of experience in private practice and a first career in radical and progressive movement work. I know from the inside out, what it costs to give your heart to a world that wasn’t built for you. I know how it feels to be canceled by your own people. I know the particular despair of learning the hard way, that the progressive nonprofits or movements you believed in often play out the same oppressive, unloving, black and white, us vs. them dynamics they claim to oppose.
And I also know what it feels like when the mountains and trees, rocks, rivers and stars tell you:
you are welcome here.
When you work with me, you can finally stop grasping for personal healing with one hand, and systemic change with the other — and pulling yourself to pieces in the process. No one should have to make that choice. For the culture of domination that drives endless extraction, patriarchy, and racism in the world, is the same culture that teaches us to hate our own bodies, silence our emotions and inner knowing, and suppress our creative, vibrant spirits.
Healing the fractures inside you and healing the fractures in the world are not separate projects.
They are one and the same.
I work with shamanic journeying, EMDR, Internal Family Systems, somatic emotion work, ecotherapy, Non-Violent Communication, and the Sacred Circle teachings that emerged from my own direct shamanic revelations.
What I offer is not a menu of techniques. Together, we will weave together a living practice of radical equality, rooted in the understanding that you are neither better than, nor less than, any other being on this planet. When you surrender your internalized inferiority and superiority, true belonging to the sacred circle of life becomes possible. And with that, you return to the ancient knowing in body, heart and soul: that belonging is not something you earn. It is already here.
The people who find their way here tend to be edge-walkers. People who have never quite fit the available categories of the dominant culture, nor the initial reactive categories of cultures of resistance:
Activists who are burning out in movements or organizations that cause harm;
Healers who are tired of sending people back into the systems that broke them, who know that true, holistic healing must include building communities and worlds that honor life;
Spiritual seekers who understand that direct spiritual revelation is not the end, but the beginning – that we must continually bring hard-earned wisdom into the world to alleviate suffering and work for justice, equality, and living in harmony with the Earth;
People whose identities, bodies, or ways of being in the world have never been fully welcome anywhere, and who are tired of shrinking to fit;
People who feel most alive in nature, yet were torn from their indigenous roots by the violence of colonialism, and don't know how to build a life that honors the natural world as the world burns.
I am a Rhodes Scholar, a former senior producer at Democracy Now!, a longtime solo wilderness backpacker, a gay woman/gender-nonconforming person who finds all of those words too small, a white person doing racial justice work with accountability and humility, and a shamanic practitioner trained by Sandra Ingerman, a world-renowned teacher of shamanism recognized for bridging ancient cross-cultural healing methods with modern culture, who has taught shamanic journeying and healing for over four decades.
I did not arrive at this work through a curriculum. I arrived through being broken open more times than I can count. When human community failed me, the wilderness spoke. When I learned to receive direct revelation from my Helping Spirits, they gave me visions of the Sacred Circle of life, where all beings gather together in an infinitely large circle of radical equality and belonging. Through 12 years of burnout-style activism and nonprofit work, and 14 years of working one-on-one with clients, I have learned that we can no longer ask people to choose between healing themselves and healing the world.
If you are ready to fly with both wings, you are home.
Location & Accessibility
I see individuals and couples in Mancos, Colorado, between Durango and Cortez in the Four Corners region, and work with people around the world remotely. When you are ready, contact me.
Education & Training
Master’s of Philosophy, Economic and Social History from Oxford University. I was a Rhodes Scholar and wrote my master’s thesis on multiracial women’s organizing within the South African liberation movement;
Master’s of Science in Mental Health Counseling from Prescott College (focus on Ecopsychology and Wilderness Therapy);
Bachelor’s degrees in Neuroscience, and Philosophy of Science, from Brown University.
EMDR Level 1
Shamanic training: Advanced Practitioner Training with Sandra Ingerman (I am honored to be listed on her website as a practitioner), as well as one-on-one mentorship with my first shamanic teacher for over a decade.
Nonprofit & Activist Experience
Senior Producer, Democracy Now!, a national, independent news and public affairs program (2000-2003)
Communications, fundraising, grantmaking coordination, community organizing: Global Greengrants Fund, Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights, Let Us Rise, Chinook Fund, KGNU (2003-2012)
Writings
Horrified by our nation’s return to open fascism, I launched my public writing on Substack in December of 2024.
Retreats, Public Trainings, Presentations, & Groups
Healing Across the Racial Divide, Spring 2026, with Norma Johnson
Shamanism for Tough Times: Experiencing the Shamanic Journey in 2025, Sept. 5-7, Mancos, CO
Live with Joy: A nature-based therapy group for women I led for many years.
"Of Soul & Spirit: Conscious Incorporation of Spirituality & the Transpersonal into Wilderness/Adventure Therapy," a workshop co-created and co-facilitated with Katie Asmus and delivered to the Association for Experiential Education International Conference, Oct. 23, 2015 in Portland, OR, and to the International Adventure Therapy Conference, June 4, 2015 in Denver, CO.
"Working with Internalized Oppression in the Current Political Climate": An experiential workshop delivered to the Rocky Mountain Regional Conference of the Association for Experiential Education, shortly after the election of 45.
"How Does Nature Heal? An Experiential Introduction to Nature-Based Psychotherapy," Presented by The Women's Wilderness Institute at Summit Sisters, June 3-5, 2016.
"Towards Authenticity, Connection, Meaning and Joy: Lessons from Shamanism," Delivered January 20, 2016 at Interface Boulder. Click here to purchase an audio recording. Also delivered to the Prescott College Master's Students Colloquium, April, 2016.
Honoring Change: Ceremony, Ritual, & Rite of Passage as Tools for Transformation
A Prescott College Intensive for Adventure Therapy and Ecopsychology Master’s students, General Counseling and Education Master’s students, and alumni, therapists and educators. I was the assistant teacher for Katie Asmus, April 2-6, 2017.
"Collaborations with the Natural World: Nature-Based Interventions for working with trauma and nervous system regulation in educational and therapeutic settings." A Prescott College Intensive for Master's Students in Education and Counseling Psychology. I was the assistant teacher for Katie Asmus, April 11-14, 2016.
"The Alchemy of Change: Transforming Your Intentions into Action," a workshop delivered at the Boulder Bioneers Conference, Oct. 25, 2015. Click here for more info. Also delivered to the Prescott College Master's Students Colloquium, April, 2016.
"Why Nature Heals," a talk delivered to the Inaugural Symposium of MeSimple on April 25, 2015.
"Helping People to Live Lives of Connection, Meaning and Joy: Lessons from Shamanism," a talk delivered to the Boulder Institute for Psychotherapy and Research on June 19, 2015.
The Women's Wilderness Institute Presents: Live a Joyful Life! An 8-week, nature-based therapy group for women. September-November 2015.
Living What Matters: a 6-week workshop designed to help you clarify your vision for your life in partnership with nature.
Experiments in Joy: Exploring your spiritual relationship with Nature. A 4-week experiential training designed to help you deepen your spiritual relationship with Nature.